Learnings from the BMA International Conference
While a lot of arguments were made at last week’s Business Marketing Association International GROW! Conference in Chicago – one thing was clear and repeated often: social media is here to stay. It was something nearly every speaker hit on and the keynote speaker, Guy Kawasaki, proclaimed that all marketers should stake their future in social media. While many building product marketers are tweeting regularly, updating their company blogs and creating apps, some of us are lucky just to be regularly using email communication with some customers.
If you are having a hard time getting started or looking for some fresh inspiration, here are just a few of the things I heard about social media this week:
- Things you put on the Internet will be there forever, but that doesn’t mean they’re relevant for long. In fact, the half life of a social media link is just 3 hours.
- Use the 10-4-1 rule. When posting content, share 10 links from other sources, create 4 original posts and use 1 link to a company landing page to promote your building products company.
- Provide value with your social media. Provide information that your customers and others in the industry want to learn about
- Remove the speed bumps. Make it easy to share things – whether it’s retweeting a post, liking a blog post or sharing a promotion – make sure it’s seamless for your customers.
- Engage. This may seem obvious, but in this age of sharing many companies simply bombard their customers with company information. Now, more that ever, it’s important to engage in meaningful conversations. Like many things, you get out what you put in.
- Be consistent. Like I said earlier, the half life of a social media link is 3 hours, so if you’re not posting with frequency, you’ll be left behind. Customers might not seek you out, but they’ll notice you if you consistently provide valuable information.
- Have a purpose. Your social media efforts should support your general marketing efforts. Don’t just share cute pictures and funny sayings, make it count.
- Keep it personal. People want to connect with other people, not companies.
Keep an eye out for more posts from the BMA International Conference.
It amazes me how many people still don’t get “it”… Great post.